On a day that challenged the rest of the leaders, Zach Johnson dominated the third round of the Kaulig Companies Championship on Saturday to take a four-stroke lead into the final round at Akron, Ohio.
Johnson, who entered the day a stroke back of the lead, shot 7-under-par 63 to reach 13-under 197. That strong, bogey-free performance began at the onset, with birdies on four of the first five holes to kick off a 5-under front nine at Firestone Country Club.
“Yeah, it was really solid. I don’t know if it was easy, but it was not difficult,” Johnson said after his round. “Today was a pin high day, it was crazy. And a good thing. If you needed to be short, you needed to be long, certain hole placements for the most part, I did that. The front nine was as solid of nine holes as I’ve played in I couldn’t tell you how long.”
The two-time PGA major winner only became eligible for PGA Tour Champions events in February. He’s already won two Champions events this year and would move up from third to second in the Charles Schwab Cup standings should he hold on to win Sunday.
While he hasn’t won a PGA Tour event since 2015, Johnson finished T9 at last week’s John Deere Classic and feels he’s been in strong form for quite awhile now.
“I feel like I’ve been in a pretty good trajectory even prior to (John Deere) if I’m going to be blunt,” Johnson said. ” … Deere was solid. Fortunately the momentum’s kind of carried me into this week.”
While Johnson finished with seven birdies and no bogeys Saturday, he didn’t have the best round of the day. That belonged to Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez, who shot 8 under to sit alone in second place at 9 under for the tournament.
Jimenez, who won this event last year in a playoff against New Zealand’s Steven Alker, also birdied his first two holes and finished with four birdies on each nine of his bogey-free round.
“I shoot my age today, 62. Every time you can shoot your age is great,” Jimenez said. ” … I played very solid. I hit it very good, especially my irons was very nice today to the flags all day.”
Round 2 leader Cameron Percy of Australia (70) shot even-par and sits six strokes back of Johnson in solo third place at 7 under. He’s followed by Tag Ridings and Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke, who both shot 68 and are tied for fourth at 6 under.
